DAILY MLB NUGGET SHEET, WEEKEND (6/5/26)

#1: Nats visit Arizona for their first west coast game of their road trip, so dealing with that east coast to west coast time shift. Maybe not as drastic with the day off on Thursday but essentially starting the game at 9:40 pm ET.

 

#2: Padres flying cross country back home from Philly in a long travel spot. Bullpen a bit gassed but still have enough weapons to close the game after Michael King exits. King’s nighttime ERA is 3 runs better than daytime and 1 run better at home vs on the road.

 

#3: One notable, potentially tired arm is Merrill Kelly’s coming off 4 day rest after tossing 97 pitches and is playing the Nats.

 

#4: The Reds and red bird Cards played each other less than 2 weeks ago. Each team got one win to split the two matchups. Leahy pitched in one meeting, posting 8 Ks but 5 earned runs. Elly caused some of that damage with a 3-run home run in the 5^th but also struck out twice; he will not be active this series.

 

#5: Weathers for the Yanks is also coming off a tough outing, allowing 5 runs vs the Athletics and throwing 107 pitches but 5 day rest. Boston, his opponent, is coming off a Baltimore beatdown and is now, famously, known to perform better on the road than at home. Aaron Judge, meanwhile, is injured and will be out 4 to 6 weeks.

 

#6: Astros bullpen is probably one of the most exhausted entering the weekend, perhaps forcing Lambert to go longer and help that situation. They play the Athletics, who also used a lot of arms vs Chicago and blew a 5-run lead yesterday. Officially entering the rotation for them is Jack Perkins for the As with a 5.6 ERA. The Athletics left Chicago late Thursday and have a cross-country trip of their own to Houston.

 

#7: Twins also have a very beat up bullpen entering the weekend with Zebby Matthews starting. Every reliever has tossed at least 20 pitches the last two days. Matthews is not great, but worth noticing how long he goes. If he exits early and forces more arms onto the mound, it may mean an extended Joe Ryan outing on Sat, depending on what the Twins come up with.

 

#8: On Saturday, Luinder Avila will play for KC against the Joe Ryan Twins. Avila played a great five innings earlier in the week for what at least one reporter suspected would largely be a bullpen game, but Avila went five vs the Reds.

 

#9: On Saturday, Eduardo Rodriguez starts for the Dbacks on 4 days and 96 pitches thrown vs the Dodgers. He did great, allowing only one earned run in 6 innings, but the Nats have had good fortunes against LHP most of the season, making that matchup a tough one for Rodriguez.

 

#10: Baltimore just played Toronto last week and face off again this weekend. Friday, Yesavage pitches after giving up one run in 5 innings his last meeting vs Baltimore (and his last start). Baltimore came back and won after scoring 5 runs in the 9^th that game.

 

#11: Look ahead to Monday, Athletics and Brewers will be playing in Vegas.

 

#12: The past month, the top 5 WRC+ teams vs LHP include: Texas, Stros, Yankees, Reds and White Sox. The top WRC+ teams vs RHP include San Fran, Pirates, Mariners, Orioles and Dodgers. WRC+ values above 100 for teams is good for their offensive outlook; these teams have the 5 highest scores since May 8^th . Worth noting when evaluating their weekend matchups (playing vs lefties or righties).

 

#13: The past month, the bottom 5 WRC+ teams vs LHP include: Cubs, Rockies, Pads, Orioles, Mariners. The bottom 5 WRC+ teams vs RHP include: Pads, Tigers, Philly, Stros and Rockies. Values below 100 (which all these range 50 to 85 ish) are below average, bad for offensive outlook.

 

#14: Bullpen disparities this weekend as far as ERA goes, include Dodgers (7^th ranked) vs Angels (29^th ranked), Mariners (1^st) vs Tigers (20^th), Pirates (18^th ranked) vs Braves (3^rd ranked), Brewers (6th ranked) vs Rockies (26th ranked). Mets/Pads, Guards/Rangers have two of the highest ranked pens facing off vs each other.